we are anxiously awaiting our first cruise. i am a curious about dining options aboard the ship. as my waistline will attest, eating is always my top priority when travelling. please share any thoughts about the restaurants an board. thanks, steve

It's been a year and a half since I cruised the sky so hopefully my info is somewhat still correct. There are two main dining rooms and 2 (or 3?) optional (they charge) dining rooms. In addition to these there are a couple buffet type places. <BR><BR>Remember to eat the Pizza they serve at lunch.

Steve-<BR>The best thing on this ship is at 6am at Chiao, Chiao. Hot cinammon rolls come out of the oven. They are sooo good. We've been on this ship twice. The second time was for the rolls. We liked the free style dining and the food in the dining rooms was so good, we never went to the optional (pay) restaurants. We took the 5 day Pacific Coastal trip each time. Nice ship. Small rooms. liz

We are going on our 3rd NCL cruise this December, this will be the 2nd on the Sky. Love NCL, love Freestyle cruising...the diningrooms were great, you could sit where you wanted, when you wanted, with whoever you wanted. The food was good all over the ship, did eat in the Italian Restaurant one evening...was excellent, but honestly, the food is good enough in the two main restaurants and Garden Cafe..why bother paying a surcharge??? Its a beautiful ship, have a wonderful time!!!!

thanks everyone! appreciate the input. any more specifics on the &quot;specialty&quot; restaurants themselves and the debate over specialty restaurants vs. the main dining rooms?

We cruised on NCL Sky last January (E. Caribbean) and loved the ship. Our best cruise ever (have to admit that it has also been the only one so far). Seriously, there is no reason why you would ever pay extra $$$ to dine in the specialty restaurants. We did eat at the Japanese restaurant once (my gf is a Japanese food addict). The food was very (very) good, but no better than at the two &quot;free&quot; restaurants (Seven Seas and something...). So, unless you really want to go Italian/French/Oriental on a particular night, stick to the two main restaurants. The buffets are also quite good. Also, you can get free pizza any time of the day.<BR>P.S. Be careful about over-eating (seriously). One of our friends began the cruise with ordering two entrees for every meal and ended up eating only appetizers at the end of the trip.